SUNRISE, Fla. -- It used to be that the Flyers would come to Florida and would sleepwalk against an inferior hockey team in games that offered little in the way of excitement.

But these aren't the old Florida Panthers. A team rebuilt by general manager Dale Tallon, the same guy who pieced together the Chicago Blackhawks team that became Stanley Cup champions a couple seasons ago, the Panthers came into Sunday's game sitting atop the Southeast Division.

It was an unfamiliar spot, as they hadn't been there this late (if you consider mid-November late) in the season since 2000.

It was the reason why Flyers coach Peter Laviolette skated his team hard at practice Saturday after two days off in the sun and surf. It was why he preached about a narrowed focus and reminded his team that it wouldn't be smooth sailing against an Eastern Conference bottom-feeder.

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The Flyers took it all to heart.

Playing their system well, the Flyers won a tight game against a vastly improved squad with a combination of strong goaltending, an excellent penalty kill and opportunistic offense, defeating the Panthers 3-2 at BankAtlantic Center.

Danny Briere and Braydon Coburn scored early and rookie Matt Read added the game-winner in the third period on a penalty shot while Ilya Bryzgalov made 31 saves to secure the victory for the Flyers (9-4-3, 21 points).

"I thought our guys really competed well and skated well," Laviolette said. "Coming off those two days off, practice (Saturday) was really good. When you look at our conference, it's really tight. There's no wiggle room. If you take a night off and get a loss or two you find yourself slipping into ninth, 10th or 11th place pretty quick. I thought our guys responded well and played a hard-fought game tonight."

It started a little sluggishly in the first period as the Flyers had to kill two penalties in the first 10 minutes, leaving the Panthers with several good chances.

However, Bryzgalov was equal to every shot, either smothering pucks into his pads or directing them out of harm's way with an active stick. He also was positionally sound, and did a nice job of covering the crease when some funny bounces -- the kind that were getting past him a few weeks ago -- threatened to allow a cheap Florida goal.

But Bryzgalov has gotten over his sluggish start, and is playing more akin to his expected production in net. He credited it to a short memory -- and some good video work with goalie coach Jeff Reese.

"We watched a couple of games I played last year and found out where the problem was and fixed it -- that's it," Bryzgalov said.

Seems simple enough, but for a guy who claimed he had no confidence in himself two weeks ago, he sure seems to have done a 180-degree turn.

"I never run from responsibility," Bryzgalov said. "When I play bad, I tell you I play bad. When I play well, I tell you I play well. That helped me moving forward."

After Bryzgalov weathered the early storm for the Flyers, Briere gave them a 1-0 lead late in the first period, backhanding the rebound of a Wayne Simmonds shot over the shoulder of Jose Theodore.

In the second period, the Flyers seemed to be in the flow and tightened up defensively. Their second score came when Max Talbot made a nice outlet pass to Coburn, setting up a give-and-go chance between Coburn and Jake Voracek.

Voracek made a nice return pass that Coburn tipped past Theodore, and it was 2-0.

"We always want our defenseman jumping in, and I saw a little area to (do that)," Coburn said. "It all started in our zone; Jake made a great play and I did the easy part."

The old Panthers would have wilted, but this team fought back, and a quick transition at their blue line led to a 3-on-2 the other way. Evgeny Dadonov snapped a wicked wrister past Bryzgalov to draw Florida back within a goal.

But after killing a five-on-three early in the third, Jaromir Jagr sprung Read on a shorthanded breakaway. Read was hauled down from behind by Jason Garrison and was awarded a penalty shot.

Read went five-hole on the shot, and it hit Theodore's pad and trickled in for what amounted to be the game-winner.

The Panthers got an excuse-me goal from Tomas Fleischmann with seven seconds to play that brought the score back within one, but it was too little, too late for Florida, which lost for the first time in regulation since Oct. 27.

"We knew they were a team that could generate a lot of chances off the rush and we wanted to make sure we weren't turning the puck over," said Chris Pronger, who played a team-high 24:13 in just his second game back after a scary eye injury. "For the most part, we did a pretty good job."